Monday, August 22, 2011

Although Keflavik is an international airport, there is only one international airline you can take to Iceland: Icelandair. It is considered a three-star airline, which is in the same class as Delta and American Airlines, if that serves as any comparison.

I read some not-so-great reviews of Icelandair before my trip, which set my expectations pretty low. Most notably, there are no complementary meals on Icelandair. Even if you have a seven hour international flight from Seattle (which I did) or longer, you still don't get fed. Of course, there are meals to purchase, but they are rather small and expensive. This was the main complaint of patrons. Knowing this beforehand, I came armed with beef jerky and gold fish.I also heard that the seats were small, and the planes felt old and out-dated.

After having flown Icelandair twice now, (Seattle - Reykjavik and Reykjavik - Oslo), I decided to give a little honest account of my journey, to hopefully provide future fliers with the real deal.

Most Icelandair planes are Boeing 757s. Sure, they are not the newest planes, but they are pretty standard. I certainly didn't feel like Orville Wright was flying the thing.

Inside the place, the seats are comfortable, and there is plenty of leg room.

Icelanders have a wonderfully sarcastic sense of humor. They are well aware of the fact that they live on a crazy volcanic island and that no other country in the world speaks their language. They have quirky facts written all over the plane. Here is my napkin when I flew to Norway.

They also give you a couple language lessons.

The in-flight entertainment was pretty good. There was a large selection of movies, though they weren't exactly new releases (I watched Braveheart on my way to Reykjavik). You could also listen to this Icelandic dude's DJ channel.

When you weren't busy with the entertainment, the TV screen displayed more quirky facts about Iceland, such as:

the prime minister's phone number is actually in the phone books

the most popular restaurant in Iceland is a hot dog stand (totally ate there)

Every year ten Icelandic bands set out to conquer the world

Every Icelander can trace their ancestry back to the original settlers

And speaking of food, I didn't order a meal, but I totally indulged on some Icelandic candy bars (Nizza was my favorite).